Saturn Season Astrology

A stylized illustration of a planet with rings, resembling a cat's face with ears.

Category: Houses of the Natal Chart

  • The Eighth House (The Bridge Between the Conscious & Unconscious)

    The Eighth House (The Bridge Between the Conscious & Unconscious)

    The eighth house is a place that frequently gets brought up by people on forums, and I personally get a lot of clients asking questions about this particular house. What is it about this house that makes people so curious? What makes this house so intensely questioned, yet so misunderstood? I believe that this has a lot to do with the “unknown” quality of this house, since much of this house isn’t openly known or understood by the native. Above everything else that the eighth house represents, I find it to be representative of a bridge between the deep conscious (the fourth house) and the unconscious (the twelfth house). The energy of the sign that sits on the eighth house tends to be on this 8th house bridge….not completely under a fog like it would be if it were in the twelfth house, but somehow removed from the native. You probably use the energy in a more passive fashion, and this energy is waiting for the native to jump on that bridge to consciously claim it/them as their own in an active way. The same could be said for any planets and their energy that are found residing in this house. Until you claim these energies consciously for yourself, you may difficulty knowing when/where/how/why to use the energy in the first place.

    Eighth House and Sex & Death

    The eighth house is traditionally said to deal with sex and death. Like, yeah, this house DOES deal with “sex” and “death,” and while I don’t disagree with this, I do disagree with how simply it seems to be presented. Sex is involved with this house, but it isn’t the sort of sex that is fun or light. It’s the soulful merging that happens with another person during sex when you really love someone and you can feel your souls becoming one while being intimate together. This sort of merging tends not to happen with just “anyone.” Also, the deep and soulful merging with another person that this house deals with doesn’t have to use sex as it’s only vehicle. There are other ways that you can deeply and soulfully merge with another person, such as being in a deep state of meditation with your “other,” spiritual experiences with another person, hallucinogens (hahah, just kidding….kind of), etc. My point here is that the merging of souls is actually what matters here, not the actual sex part. Sex is just one way to achieve this state of deep and soulful merging that the soul of a person does need. And honestly, sex is one of the most understood ways of achieving this type of soul merging on this planet, in this dimension (where we have physical bodies to keep our soul’s separate from those of other people). Other dimensions and other places probably have better ways to describe exactly what the merging of souls really is, probably because in other dimensions and other places there are no physical shells to keep one another so distant. Death is another area of life that gets lumped in with this house (and is a real pet peeve of mine). For me, physical death has always been better represented by the fourth house/the IC, especially with the IC being thought of as the “beginning and the end” of the natal chart (which is how I personally think of it). However, the eighth house absolutely does represent death and then rebirth (or transformation) in this particular incarnation. When a person transforms beyond what they have been into something new, and all that they could be, in this lifetime.
    TL;DR – Sex and death are vehicles for transformation as they pertain to the eighth house.

    Transformation in the Eighth House

    Transformation is absolutely a major theme of this house, as has been indicated in the above paragraphs. The sign’s energy that rules this house wants you to transform and actively embrace it’s energy, claiming it as your own. This house also wants all the planets that are found there (if any) to be claimed by the native and used as transport for evolving into a “higher” (and more spiritual) state of being. Depending on the chart of the person in question, the soulful merging that I mentioned above may not even have to do with another person at all, but may actually have to do with merging the parts of themselves that they actively claim from other areas of their chart with the energy of this house that is on that eighth house bridge. By merging these parts of yourself, you would end up engaging in that deep and soulful merging that the soul craves (and probably in the most important way…by feeling more complete in yourself).

    Fears & Letting Go

    Fears and learning to let go (and actually being able to let go) are also massive things that this house deals with. Until you fully embrace the sign’s energy that rules the eighth house (and any planetary energy there) there may be a lot of fear dealing with the energy that the sign (and planets) represent. And the fear is there because you don’t fully know when/how/where/why to use that energy. For instance, someone with Cancer on the eighth house may have some fears dealing with becoming a mother/parent (or just feeling uncomfortable with this notion). They may also have fears or issues with actually showing all the care and nurturing that Cancer typically wants to show. As another example, lets take someone with Capricorn ruling their eighth house. This person may have issues and fears with fully understanding their own authority/being authoritative (or just authority in general), as well as having fears about maintaining stability (possibly feeling decently unstable at times) and having fears about persevering through & against all odds. There could also be some real fears with the concept of “transformation” in general, since Capricorn tends not to “do” change as well as other signs. Letting go of things (and learning to let go of things) is also something that this house absolutely rules over. On the opposite end of the axis, you have the second house, and the second house’s goal is to acquire as much as it can in the physical world. It want’s to acquire money (that it makes itself), values & self-worth (that are their own), and above all else, stability & security. The eighth house really isn’t about any of those things. The second teaches how to gain things, and the eighth teaches you how to let go of things and, perhaps, how to learn to live with “less.” Since the eighth house is a very spiritual place, less is necessary for transformations here to occur (without all the extra shit and noise that we acquire in the physical world). There is also usually some fear of letting go of operating in the way that we have always operated from this house before we step onto that eighth house bridge and claim that sign (and planetary) energy as our own.

    Values & Resources of Others

    As far as the idea that this house rules over other people’s money and other people’s values, I feel like this really only comes into play if the deep and soulful merging that is needed to be done by this house happens with another actual person. Since you would be so deeply enmeshed with the “other,” you would merge your values and your money (etc) with your other. However, I don’t believe that money is really the point of the this house at all. Yes, the house rules over banks, loans and inheritances, but still, money isn’t the point. The point is to learn to do with less (from the physical world). I’ve always believed that if money was involved with this house at all on an individual level, it would be for the benefit of self transformation, and possibly even somewhat karmic (whether a financial gain or a loss). This house does give and take away though (especially things of benefit in the physical world), and if money were to be misused or abused, I imagine you would have to learn to do with “less” (financially) in this area of life.

    Inheritance & Conditioning

    The eighth house deals with notions of inheritance. Oftentimes the explanations given feel incomplete to me because they are much too focused on tangible forms of inheritance while leaving out generational and/or genetic forms of inheritance that one can also, well…inherit.

    Want an astrology reading? You can get a reading with me here 🙂

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  • Intercepted Signs in Houses

    Intercepted Signs in Houses

    I find houses in interception (or intercepted signs in houses) to be particularly interesting when I find them in a client’s natal chart. Some astrologers disregard the idea of intercepted houses as unimportant….to each their own, everyone reads a little differently. I feel like when you find intercepted signs in houses in a client’s natal chart, to leave them out of a reading would be doing the client an injustice. Intercepted Houses are when a house is located between two separate house cusps, but the house and sign in question rule over no actual house cusp of the own.

    As you can see from the example at the top of the page, Aquarius and Leo rule over no house cusps of their own. Aquarius falls under the domain of Capricorn’s house, and Leo falls under the domain of Cancer’s house. Neither sign has any real way of easily expressing itself outwardly to the world in a specific area of life (or just in general). The sign itself, as well as any planets that may find themselves inside the interceptions, operate under a sort of “fog,” kind of like the 12th house. You may not be fully aware of the sign and/or planetary energy that resides in the intercepted house, or there may be something kind of fucked about the way this energy manifests in your life. It also tends to be that the intercepted house’s energy (and any planets that find themselves in them) were not taught by the parents/caregivers in early childhood as something important to the native’s development (or was outright ignored or arrested).

    Planets in intercepted signs in houses

    Some examples of what it can mean when planets find themselves in an intercepted house:

    • The Sun-There may be some issues in fully understanding one’s own sense of self/ego/life force
    • The Moon-The person may not fully understand their own emotional core (or even want to acknowledge it).
    • Mercury-The person may have some difficulty in actually understanding their own mind and it could operate a little differently.
    • Venus-There may be some issues with the person knowing how they need to give and recieve love, as well as knowing what/who they love in the first place.
    • Mars-The person’s drive, aggression and/or passion may be under a fog and not as easily accessible.
    • Jupiter-The person may not feel that they can fully expand in the areas of life where the house in interception falls.
    • Saturn-The person may have difficulty when it comes to taking on responsibility, as well as implementing structure in their own lives.
    • Uranus-The person may have issues really hoping or wishing for things, as well as really being able to appreciate their own “specialness” or unique invidiuality.
    • Neptune-Since Neptune makes things cloudy on it’s own, this placement would be ripe for causing the person to con-themselves in some way relating to the sign & house in question that it falls.
    • Pluto-The person may have some real issues with their own personal power and how to best use it (if they realize they have this personal power to begin with).

    Mind you, these are just examples of what it could mean when a planet is in an intercepted house. You would need to take the entire chart into account (especially the sign in interception that rules the planets as well as the house it falls in) to know exactly how having a planet intercepted would manifest in one’s life.

    What might it mean to have intercepted signs in houses?

    *If one has the Aries/Libra Axis in interception, this can cause the native problems/clouding with understanding themselves and the concept of the other, and with being able to understand the value of the balance between the two.
    *If the Taurus/Scorpio Axis is intercepted, there can be some difficulties with really forming your own values and keeping them separate from other peoples. Also, there can be some issues in knowing when to hold on to something/someone, and when to let go (and how to do this).
    *When the Gemini/Sagittarius Axis is intercepted, there are may be some issues with knowing when (or how or where) to use the “lower” mind as well as the “abstract” mind (and really trusting your abilities in these areas). There may be a sort of mistrust of the mind, and this may not be fully understood.
    *If the Cancer/Capricorn Axis is in interception, there can be some issues with really being in tune with your public & private life (possibly not fully understanding them, and what you want and need in regards to them). You may also not be as not comfortable with the ideas of being caring/emotional (the Cancer part) and really coming into your own authority (the Capricorn part).
    *When the Leo/Aquarius Axis is intercepted, your need to been seen and heard is clouded and hidden (the Leo part) which then causes you not to be able to embrace your unique individuality and really contribute something to the collective (the Aquarius part).
    *If the Virgo/Pisces Axis is in interception, there can be problems with actually being able to function easily and be of proficient service in daily life. This can then lead to issues with actually being able to reach the dreams that you do have for yourself (possibly not knowing how to even go about this).
    Again, these are just examples of the intercepted signs alone without bringing the house into consideration. You would need to take the entire chart into account to really get the full picture.

    When you have intercepted signs in houses (and if you have an intercepted house in your chart, you will also have another interception on the opposite side of the axis), it means that certain signs are also duplicated. In the above example, their 6th and 7th houses are ruled by Taurus, and their 12th and 1st houses are ruled by Scorpio. As you can imagine, this kind of throws the whole chart off balance because each sign needs to be able to openly express itself. It is important here to balance your chart by freeing these houses (and planets) from interception. And how do you do this, you may be wondering? Well, there are a few couple different ways. First, the person needs to become comfortable with the energy of the sign of the house cusp where the intercepted house falls. Using the picture above, my client would need to become intimately familiar with Capricorn’s energy as the 3rd House cusp ruler (and Uranus in the 3rd not in interception), as well as Cancer’s energy as the 9th House cusp ruler (and Venus in the 9th not in interception). Since the cusp ruler acts as a grantor or denier of access to the Intercepted Houses in question, the better the “terms” the person is on with those House cusp rulers (and the more they understand how that energy works in their life), the easier access they will have to the intercepted houses and to then pulling the houses from interception.

    Another way to free the houses and planets from interception is look at where the ruler of the intercepted houses fall in the natal chart. In the example in the picture above, The Sun (the ruler of Leo) falls in the 9th House (in interception), and Uranus (the ruler of Aquarius) falls in the 3rd House (not in interception). When the ruler of an intercepted house falls IN an intercepted house, that particular planet won’t be of much help since it can’t fully express itself “properly.” In my client’s case above, they would want to to look at Uranus and the 3rd House (of which the 3rd House deals with communication and the mind, among other things) to pull the houses out of interception. I have found that only one house needs to be pulled out of interception and usually the other intercepted house follows suit.

  • Saturn in House Overlays (Houses 1 through 6) in Synastry or: “I have a lesson for you, bitch.”

    Saturn in House Overlays (Houses 1 through 6) in Synastry or: “I have a lesson for you, bitch.”

    Ahhhh, synastry! It’s quite interesting to look at synastry charts between two people, seeing the energy that both people bring into the relationship and how both of their energies interact with one another. I have a real interest in the house overlay part of synastry, which is when you look at a specific planet in your chart (say, Saturn) and see what house it falls inside of in your partner’s chart. Here is an example of what I’m talking about:

    When looking at a particular planet in house overlays in synastry, the planet person will be affecting the house person with the energy of that particular planet, primarily in the area of life that the house in question deals with. In the case of this post, we’ll be looking at how Saturn in one person’s chart impacts the other person’s chart by way of the house it falls in. Saturn is a teacher (not always an easy teacher, but a teacher none-the-less), and usually the lessons that Saturn has to teach in Synastry have something to do with responsibility, restriction (not all restriction is bad all of the time), maturity, stabilization, and getting serious. Some people need the lessons that the Saturn person is in their lives to teach, and some don’t (it really depends on the natural inclination of the house person). **This is strictly JUST looking at the energy between Saturn and the house that it falls in in synastry, not taking into account any other aspects (such as other planets in your partner’s house), which, of course will color how you will want to interpret everything.**

    Your Saturn falling in your partner’s First House: You probably have a pretty stabilizing effect on the house person here (whether they want this stabilization is another question entirely). There may be a certain sort of restriction that the house person feels in regards to themselves when you are around. Maybe they feel they can’t be fully themselves in someway around you? Or maybe just by way of being in a relationship with you, the house person becomes more serious, more traditional, and more mature. Regardless of other aspects in the synastry chart to see if the house person considers these positive or negative attributes to acquire, the lesson Saturn teaches here is all about stabilizing and maturing the “self” of the house person.

    Your Saturn falling in your partner’s Second House: You are probably in your partner’s life for many reasons, but a big one will be teaching them lessons about how to really work for what they value, and how to really work for what makes them feel secure. Also, you as the Saturn person could end up being what makes the house person secure, since Saturn has a tendency of acting as an anchor in the house it falls (there may be real security for the house person that you will “stick” around, thus making them secure). You may have a rather stabilizing effect on their financial situation, helping them to obtain what they want financially. Or you may help them to become more responsible in these areas of life and less wanton and devil-may-care.

    Your Saturn falling in your partner’s Third House: I’ve always found this to be a somewhat difficult placement in house overlays, and that’s because Saturn here can cause some restriction in communication for the house person. This restriction can actually be a type of maturity in communication that the Saturn person is teaching in lesson form to the house person (maybe the house person needs to learn this lesson, restriction isn’t always a bad thing). The Saturn person can also cause the house person to think more seriously and more practically, causing a complete shift in their thought process. Or, if the house person is already more serious and realistically minded, it can cause them to go off the deep end with their seriousness and realism (which could cause the house person to become more depressively inclined).

    Your Saturn falling in your partner’s Fourth House: The lesson that Saturn wants to teach here has to with anchoring one down, and sometimes this is welcome (and sometimes it isn’t). Saturn falling in your partner’s 4th house can either be a really good thing, or a bad thing. You can deeply effect the house person, causing them to feel stable and secure down to their very private core (since the 4th house is the most private part of the natal chart, along with the IC). If you happen to live with the house person, you may be a real stablizing presence in the person’s home life. Depending on other factors in your charts, Saturn falling in your partner’s 4th house could cause the house person to feel restricted at home, or cause them to feel more responsibility towards the home and private life than maybe they would like.

    Your Saturn falling in your partner’s Fifth House: Your Saturn falling in your partner’s 5th house can cause you restrict or mature (depending on the house person and the way you look at it) the house person in areas revolving around self-expression, creativity, and joy. You may help them to become more practical in these areas of their life (such as helping them to be more practical in how they express themselves), or your energy may stifle them (such as stifling their creativity). If the the 5th house person is naturally inclined to gamble or take risks, you may cause them not to do this so much or so often. Children and the idea of having them are usually serious business, and if this is a romantic relationship there could be blockage or delay in this area of life, usually by way of Saturn’s energy on the house person.

    Your Saturn falling in your partner’s Sixth House: Generally, Saturn is pretty comfortable in the 6th in House Overlays. Saturn here usually has a lesson to teach the house person in the areas of work, daily life and personal health. Saturn’s energy here wants to teach the house person to get serious about these areas of life, and to be practical and responsible. And depending on the house person, this could be a very welcome energy into their life. Saturn may help the house person to become serious about taking care of their physical body & health, to persevere while working (and to just work hard in general), and to be responsible in daily life. The one downside that I see here is the possibility of causing the house person to feel criticized in some way, especially if Saturn’s energy in this house isn’t welcome (or necessarily needed).

    If you would like me to read Saturn in a synastry chart for you (or any kind of astrology chart reading), get a reading from me here 🙂 Also, if you are more of a watcher than a reader, head to my YouTube channel where I have a bunch of content on Saturn, synastry, and a whole bunch more.

  • The Fourth House in Astrology (The Roots of the Chart)

    The Fourth House in Astrology (The Roots of the Chart)

    Ahhhh, the fourth house! Another of my favorite house’s of the chart to dive into. You can learn a lot about the psyche of a person by dissecting the fourth house in their Natal Chart, and not superficial stuff, either. This house is typically assigned the keywords and phrases such as “The Home” (both early home life and now) ,” “The Mother” (or the Father, depending on the astrologer), “One’s Roots,” “The Family,” and “Private Life” (especially private since the Imum Coeli/I.C., typically the 4th House Cusp, is the most private place in the entire chart). I find this house to be all of those things, but especially what exactly home is to the native; the concept of home in general and how it can be different things for different people. Things such as the fourth house ruler, planets in this house, aspects made to the house, etc gives a better idea of how to answer that question. We are so conditioned to believe in home the same exact way; what to want, what to “need,” but these conditioned wants and needs aren’t necessarily what the individual truly needs, wants, or feels comfortable living in. Most of these concepts that we as people have of the idea of what home is actually stem from our early home life.

    Depending on what sign rules your fourth house will color how exactly you express the energy of the house. Someone who has the fourth in Aquarius possibly grew up in an ever changing environment in some way, such as moving a lot, or maybe there was a lot of shifting and changing within the family. All this changeability that they live with (and even seek out in some way) may seem crazy to other people (and maybe even to themselves), but it is usually what they know and feel most comfortable with. These individuals need a lot of freedom to come and go as they please, and they probably aren’t the kind that jump into long term living situations with others quickly or easily by choice. This is in stark contrast to those who have the fourth house in Cancer, which causes the native to want their home life to be a place of rest; these people want to put down roots and settle down (they aren’t looking to come and go, generally speaking). Changes within the home environment and the family structure make these individuals nervous. They like things to remain consistent and stay pretty much the same (it could indicate the native living close to family/close to where they grew up).

    Planets in the Fourth House

    Of course, any planets that live here matter a ton (especially any planets that conjunct the I.C., but more on that a bit later). Having Jupiter in the fourth house is actually a nice placement overall. It can indicate a happy childhood home/a childhood that you enjoyed, and you generally associate the concepts of home and family with happiness. You may or may not have moved around when you were young, but as you get older you wouldn’t mind the adventure of moving around to new places and may very well seek out being able to do so. You will probably have strong values, morals and ethics that were instilled in you by your family that you hold close. Someone who has Saturn in the fourth may not have the same kind of fond and happy memories of their early home life (this is actually a difficult place for Saturn to live). These people’s childhoods tend to be a little rougher and more difficult. There is something strict and restrictive about this placement; these people don’t have the easiest time outwardly showing their love for their family members in the typical ways. Regardless, these people do have a profound sense of responsibility to their families (both those they are born into and the one they create for themselves), even in situations where they shouldn’t. **I would like to make note here that in these examples I’m throwing out generalizations here. Of course things like your fourth house ruler, different aspects made to planets in the fourth, etc. will matter immensely with the “what” and the “how” that this energy is expressed.**

    The I.C . (or Imum Coeli)

    The private aspect to this house is so important, and this is where the I.C. comes into play; the most private and personal part of the natal chart. The way I like to think of the I.C. is to think of the roots of a plant (the core of yourself in this lifetime), which then moves outward and upward along the chart, finally ending at the Midheaven at the top of the chart. Having any planets in the fourth house are important in dealing with our concepts of what home actually is to us and who we really are deep down, but planets conjunct the I.C. seem to intensify this 10-fold. Having Mercury conjunct the I.C. could have allowed you to have grown up immersing yourself in knowledge (or wanting too). These people are probably curious about their roots and their ancestors, and depending on other factors in their charts, definitely have the mental ability and clarity to get to the very bottom of their own psyche. Everyone likes to learn about themselves, but I imagine these people really digging into their own pasts and their family heritage. These people probably have an easier time than some in communicating (in some way) the more private sides of themselves. The people that have Neptune conjunct the I.C. probably have a different sort of experience with the most private side of themselves. There is probably something foggy or unclear about their family in general, despite them searching for answers to the questions they seek about their families (and these questions tend to be of a more spiritual and mystical nature). This placement can also indicate things like secrets and lies within the early home environment, which can cause the native to retreat even further into themselves. While usually very creative and empathetic, there is something putting a haze over their most private self/the core of their being.

    The Fourth House & the Mother

    Another interesting topic dealing with this house is the concept of the “mother,” for many believe that this house and the planets that live there (if any) help to describe your own mother and the way that you perceive her to be. It can show the type of relationship that you have with her, along with the type of relationship (and type of mother) that you actually need. Having Pluto fall in the fourth house may cause you to see your own mother as sort of domineering or formidable person, or you could see her as the definition of what metamorphosis is (and this would also depend on other aspects made to this house and the planets that fall there). It could indicate that the mother is still domineering, even into adulthood. It could even indicate that the native maybe needed a more domineering parent in their childhood/adolescence for some reason. The aspects, degrees, etc made to the planets here can indicate which of the ways that your mother is shown here in the fourth house, but shown here she will be; she always is somehow. There is also a generational karmic bent to this topic as well, for they say that planets that find themselves in this house, along with the house ruler and aspects made to the house, can show a sort of generational inheritance (both good and bad) stemming from the family, but especially ones own mother. This doesn’t mean that you will both have the same planets in the fourth house (you could!) but more the things that she passed down to you karmically will find themselves here. For instance, one who has Venus in their fourth may have inherited this “benefic” planet here in this house due to good Karma that their mother accrued herself, but usually due to karma passed down through several generations.

    Interested in learning the language of astrology? Check out the Star Cards (picture at the top of this page is the Fourth House card in the deck).

    Want an astrology reading? You can get a reading with me here 🙂

    More of a watcher than a reader? Head over to Saturn Season Astrology on YouTube for LOTS of astrology videos.

  • The Twelfth House in Astrology (Behind the Veil)

    The Twelfth House in Astrology (Behind the Veil)

    When I get asked about the twelfth house in the natal chart (such as what it means when such and such planet finds itself paying rent there), there is usually a sort of fear behind the question. Behind the question usually lurks a sense of “oh my gahhh, I have Venus in the twelfth, I just know it’s bad.” Many of the different keywords assigned to this house can seem nasty at first glance, so people tend to naturally think having (whatever) planet in the twelfth house is automatically to their detriment. Though planets found in the twelfth house of one’s natal chart aren’t necessarily easy, they certainly aren’t unilaterally negative and their placement in this house has a purpose (usually to grow and evolve one in a spiritual way/on a soul level).

    Exploring the Twelfth House

    Of the houses in the natal chart, the twelfth house is one of my favorites to explore (along with the fourth house). This house is typically given keywords like “karma,””empathy and compassion,” “escape,” “the womb/mother’s pregnancy & labor experience,” “the unconscious,” “spirituality”, “prisons/imprisonment,” “hidden enemies,” “serve or suffer,” and the ever fear inducing “the house of self-undoing.” Unfortunately, in my experience people tend to focus far too much on the negative keywords and not enough on the positive ones. This house has a magical sort of quality to it, especially in terms of all the spirituality and compassion that can be found dwelling here (and even more so once the native has begun evolving beyond the more difficult traits of this house).

    Twelfth house planets under a fog

    All the planets that live in this house live under a sort of fog, a veil, in the unconscious. None of the planets and their planetary energies are easily accessible here in an overt and conscious way, and this is where I believe the keywords “hidden enemies” and “prisons/imprisonment” come into play. Of course, both of those keywords could be taken literally, but I’ve never really read them that way (unless there were other clear aspects in the chart to indicate some type of imprisonment of the person/some kind of enemy hidden in the shadows). Let’s say that you have your Moon in the twelfth house. That’s a tough place for the Moon to take up residence. Since the Moon rules our emotions, having your Moon under the fog of this house may make someone not understand their own feelings and emotions about things as easily. They know they have these certain feelings, can sense them on an unconscious/unseen level, but can’t consciously (easily) figure out clearly why they feel the way they do. This would, I imagine, cause the person to feel imprisoned by their own emotions, by their Moon. Almost as if the twelfth house is holding that planetary energy hostage, not letting it leave it’s grasp. The same sort of thing could be said about “hidden enemies.” The planet and planetary energy that is in this house could explode in more destructive ways, thus turning that person’s own planetary placement against the native, becoming an enemy of the chart holder. Again, for example, the Moon in the twelfth may cause someone to have emotional outbursts at inappropriate times, in inappropriate ways, directed at the “wrong” person, and for the “wrong” reasons (how this would manifest would really also depend on the aspects made to the planet, what sign the planet was in, etc).

    The Twelfth House & Karma

    The twelfth house is thought to be associated with the karma that we bring with us from past life, as well as karma that we may incur during this lifetime. Honestly, I’m not sure how I feel about THIS particular thing. Can this house be karmic? Absolutely. Do I ALWAYS take the karmic approach when reading this house? No. If I were to go the karmic route with this house after taking the whole chart into consideration, here is how I would carry on with that train of thought: The notion of karma can be both good and bad (we need to keep this in mind first and foremost). The aspects the planet(s) in the twelfth house make with different planetary bodies in the chart are an indicator of how the karma functions. Since planets and their energy/traits that fall in the twelfth house aren’t as easily accessible to the native and are covered by a sort of fog, there is a theory that planets that reside here in a natal chart do so for karmic purposes. For example, let’s say you have Mars in the twelfth. In a past life maybe you misused your drive, ambition, and aggression towards the more negative side of the spectrum. In this life, maybe you decided (or it was decided for you) that your Mars would fall here as a way of making this energy less accessible to you, thus making it harder to misuse it in this lifetime. Since Mars here lives under the fog that covers this house, it could incline one to have a difficult time overtly expressing those Martian energies like drive, ambition, aggression, and even anger. This would sort of balance out the karma accrued from the abuse of those energies in a past life (or past lifetimes).

    Twelfth House represents time before birth

    Another interesting notion about the twelfth house is the idea that the planets that find themselves here in the natal chart can represent what the native’s own mother’s pregnancy with them was like. For example, Neptune in the twelfth can indicate that the chart holder’s mother’s pregnancy was also kind of under a fog of sorts/possibly something unclear here about her feelings at the time (and it’s also possible that her life at that time was unclear). Maybe she wasn’t quite sure how she felt about the entire situation of being pregnant, impending motherhood and the like. Maybe she had never planned to be a parent at all (but found herself becoming one)? Maybe there was something unclear and uncertain about her life situation at the time she was pregnant that put a haze over her pregnancy? The closer that planet (or planets) is to the Ascendant (I’d use a 10° orb or less here), the more likely that/those planet(s) are telling the story of the native’s birth/the native’s mother’s labor. Does the native have Saturn in the twelfth house within a 10° orb of the Ascendant? This could indicate that their mother’s labor with them was long, and possibly difficult in someway. As an aside, Saturn here conjunct the Ascendant can indicate that the native themselves wasn’t ready/didn’t want to be reborn into this incarnation; their soul was resistant to come back and do the whole “living on earth thing” again.

    Undoing Ourselves

    The keywords of “The House of Self-Undoing” and “Serve or Suffer” to describe the twelfth house are my personal favorites to try and decipher. While the keywords certainly sound very doom and gloom, I tend not to see them as such. The twelfth house is where one sheds their ego; Ego doesn’t exist here. I actually tend to believe that it is the “self-undoing” (and the “serve or suffer”) keywords that tend to liberate one from the fog of this house. One of the very best ways to work through the planetary energy in this house is by channeling that typical planetary energy into the sixth house. I actually believe this to be true for any difficult planetary energy in any house, but specifically for the sixth/twelfth axis. Since planetary energy in the twelfth is more hidden and one may not even really know what energy to channel into the sixth house, I would suggest learning/reading about said twelfth house planet, but learn about it in the sixth house as well. For example, if you have Venus in the twelfth, you may have a harder time easily and naturally showing expressions of love to those around you; there may be some kind of blockage in being able to do so. The way to work through that might be to become actively aware of this, and become of some sort of service towards those you love and other people as well (generally in some way which you spread positivity, beauty, and love to those who need it most). By being of service to others (regardless of the planet in the twelfth), the native is able to work through the fog of those twelfth house planets which helps them to see the planet and its energy in a more clear and open way. By working through this energy (these energies), you are essentially “un-doing” yourself. Undoing the natural way/programming that you unconsciously use to handle the energy of the planet(s) that live there, so that you can use this/these planet(s) in a conscious way. Sometimes we must all “un-do” ourselves to grow and evolve into something better, into a higher state of being.

    Interested in learning the language of astrology? Check out the Star Cards (picture at the top of this page is the Twelfth House card in the deck).

    Want an astrology reading? You can get a reading with me here 🙂

    More of a watcher than a reader? Head over to Saturn Season Astrology on YouTube for LOTS of astrology videos.